


your sword and shield

by NoirSongbird



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sword Art Online Fusion, Anal Sex, Bottom Adam, Bottom Shiro, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, M/M, Oral Sex, Temporary Character Death, Top Keith, Trans Adam (Voltron), Trapped in a video game, Trauma, Vaginal Sex, Villain!Curtis, if you die in the game you die in real life, mixed amab and afab language, secondary character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-23 21:41:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21327127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirSongbird/pseuds/NoirSongbird
Summary: Nearly two years after getting trapped in the immersive virtual MMO Sword Art Online, Takashi Shirogane, known to his fellow players as “Shiro”, feels like he’s done pretty okay. He’s risen to become Vice-Captain of Voltron, the guild leading the frontline charge to freedom. He’s started dating his childhood friend and longtime crush, Keith “Thunderstorm” Kogane.The thing is, though, that over the years in SAO, Shiro and Keith keep running into another player, an insistent, fierce loner who goes by the username “Heylel.” And if Shiro is totally honest with himself, and with Keith—he’s a whole lot in love with the handsome, sharp-tongued solo player.Adam “Heylel” West, on the other hand, is pretty sure that things go better when he’s on his own. As a marked “beater”—a beta tester and assumed “cheat”—most people don’t want him around, anyway. Which is fine; Adam is perfectly okay with grinding solo, pushing himself to higher and higher heights in his quest to help save everyone else.An invitation to party up with the boys he’s in love with is hard to refuse, so together, the three of them venture deep into Floor 74’s dungeon..and find far, far more than they ever could have bargained for.
Relationships: Adam/Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 24
Collections: Shiro Rarepair Flash Bang





	1. The Sword Dance of Black and White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is my fic for the Shiro Rarepair Flash Bang! My artist has had some life issues and hasn't gotten a chance to post their work, but I'll definitely edit in a link to it as soon as it's available!
> 
> A huuuge thanks to my beta and fellow SRFB mod, Kassie, who is a hero and also an amazing cheerleader!! <3 And thanks to Mey and Sam, the rest of our mod team~
> 
> Title from [AmaLee's translated cover of "Crossing Field,"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO60ahwc8FI) the first SAO opening!

“No  _ way, _ ” Matt leaned forward eagerly, staring at the inventory page Adam presented him.

“Absolutely way,” Adam said, slightly smugly. “An S-class ingredient. Ragout venison.”

“Two years in SAO, and I’ve never even  _ seen  _ one,” Matt said, and he sighed, a little dreamily. “I can’t believe you just got one in a random drop. Why are you  _ selling _ it?” Adam coughed, slightly embarrassed. 

“I couldn’t cook it,” Adam said, “my cooking skill’s too low.”

“ _ Dude. _ ” Matt stared at him, in openmouthed disbelief. “You’re one of the highest level players in SAO.”

“And I never leveled my cooking skill. Shocking, I know.” Adam raised his eyebrows. “I’ve been a little bit focused on grinding my combat skills. You know, so we can  _ get out of this two-year nightmare? _ ” Matt huffed and crossed his arms, and the expression on his face was, distinctly, a pout. Adam rolled his eyes.

It wasn’t like anything he’d said wasn’t true. For two years, he and an increasingly dwindling number of people had been trapped in the virtual world of  _ Sword Art Online.  _ It was supposed to be the next big thing in gaming, a full-immersion VR MMO, and Adam had been lucky enough to get picked as a beta tester. Matt was one of the ten thousand lucky people who snagged a physical copy for the limited early release.

“Lucky” until one of the game’s lead designers, Zarkon Cizar, and his wife Honerva, had locked them all in it and declared it a death game. If you died in the game, you died in real life. If anyone tried to unplug you, the NERVGear helmet that facilitated the VR immersion would fry your brain. The only way out was to fight up through Aincrad’s 100 floors, defeating the floor bosses on the way.

“So if either of us tried to cook it, we’d just burn it,” Matt said, and he wilted onto his counter. He’d set up shop as an item vendor, and he was doing pretty well for himself, as far as Adam knew. Most people liked Matt. He was friendly, approachable, and funny. Matt, however, was one of a very short list of people who liked  _ Adam.  _

“Exactly. Might as well sell it to you, so you can sell it to someone with the chops to cook it,” Adam said. Matt let out an absolutely despairing sigh.

“I just want to try a little,” he said, miserably.

“I know,” Adam agreed. “I am a simple man of simple pleasures, and getting to try S-class venison is high on the list. It’s kosher and everything.”

The door to the shop opened, and Adam turned, and blinked in surprise at the three people walking through. Two of them were familiar—about half of the rest of the “people who actually liked Adam” list. He’d partied with Keith and Shiro way back during the first boss fight on floor one, and had run into them a few times since. It was always nice to see them, and Adam couldn’t help but smile. 

The third, Adam didn’t know—he was tall, about Shiro’s height, dark skinned and dark haired, and he glared at Adam with ice-chip blue eyes. He wore the red and white of the Voltron Lions, the guild Keith and Shiro were a part of, but he wasn’t one of the Lions Adam was used to seeing on the front lines in boss fights. 

“Adam!” Shiro said, brightly. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Good to see you too,” Adam said, and he meant it. “Hey, Keith. Glad you’re both still alive. What are classy guys like you two doing in a place like this?”

“Are you implying my shop isn’t  _ classy, _ ” Matt huffed.

“Looking for you, actually,” Keith said, and he gave Adam a smile that had Adam’s heart stuttering. Which was stupid. Keith and Shiro were the Vice-Captains of Voltron, the left and right hands of the guild’s leader, and literally everyone in Aincrad knew they were a couple. 

“Well, you found me,” he said. “Matt and I were just lamenting that neither of us can cook this ingredient I got as a drop.” He pulled up the screen so Keith and Shiro could see. “Of course I get one of the definitively kosher S-class drops, and I don’t have  _ anywhere near _ the skill required to cook it.”

Keith blinked, and looked over to Shiro, who grinned and nodded.

“I can cook it,” Keith said. “I maxed my cooking skill out last week. So, y’know...if you’ll share with me and Shiro, I’ll cook it up for us. It’d be a shame to let it go to waste, right?” 

“Wait, really?” Adam said, and Keith nodded. 

“It’s true. I’m hopeless in a kitchen in the real world, so I was a little afraid to make a go at it, but he’s more than good enough for the both of us,” Shiro praised. Keith flushed, and scratched at the back of his neck, ducking his head a little. 

“It’s not  _ that  _ impressive,” he said. “But yeah, it’d be my pleasure.”

“Well, Matt,” Adam said, and he pushed himself off the counter, “many apologies, my friend, but I think I’ve found my chef.”

“I just want a taste,” Matt said, eyes going wide and shiny. “You can save a little bit of leftovers for me, right? Adam? Keith? Shiro?  _ Guys?  _ We’re all friends, right?”

“I’ll write you a detailed, loving review of the results,” Adam promised with a laugh, and he headed for the door.

“You’re a fucking putz, Adam!” Matt shouted after him, and Adam laughed as Keith caught his wrist and tugged him outside.

“Green’s a bad color on you, Matt!” He shouted back, and then he tugged the door shut. When he looked over at Shiro, Shiro had a hand in front of his mouth, and he was clearly burying laughter. “Anyway,” Adam said dryly, “if you’ve ever wondered why I have a reputation as an asshole, there’s your answer.” Shiro sobered quickly, and frowned.

“You’re not an asshole,” he said, “and everyone who thinks you are is wrong.”

“I can count the number of people who agree with you on one hand,” Adam said, “but it’s sweet that you think so.” He stretched, and started walking, but gave a quick glance backwards. “By the way, who’s the third wheel?”

“My name is Curtis,” the man said, and he straightened, glaring at Adam like Adam was a rat in his kitchen. “I’ve been asked by the guild to act as a bodyguard to the Vice-Captains.”

“Huh,” Adam said, and he raised his eyebrows. “I...see.” Shiro shrugged in a “what-can-you-do” sort of way. 

“Those player-killing bastards from Laughing Coffin have been really active lately, and they’ve been specifically targeting Voltron members. We’re not sure if someone has a hit out on our guild, or if they’re just trying to stop us pushing forward, but Guild policy is parties of at least three until we figure it out.” He shrugged, and casually linked his arm with Adam’s, which made Adam’s heart jump into his throat. He glanced over at Keith, but Keith was smiling like nothing was wrong. “In less depressing news, how’s your place for cooking supplies?”

“Uh,” Adam said, and he grinned a little sheepishly, “I’m pretty mediocre at it, so...I’ve got the basics, but nothing special, and definitely no decent ingredients.”

“Then you’ll have to come to our place!” Shiro said, brightly. 

“Sir!” Curtis stopped short. “You can’t be serious, inviting such a shady character back to your home!”

“ _ Shady character? _ ” Adam demanded, whirling around to face him.

“We’ll invite whoever we want back to our place, thanks,” Keith said, and he stepped forward and put a hand on Adam’s shoulder. Shiro did the same, on his other side.

“The danger from Laughing Coffin—” Curtis began.

“Adam is  _ not  _ a member of Laughing Coffin.” Shiro’s voice was as cold as ice. “And considering that I can all but guarantee he’s at minimum ten levels higher than you, I’m sure he can protect us just as well as you, if not better.”

“Ten levels…” Curtis narrowed his eyes. “He’s a  _ beater.” _ Keith let out a low, protective growl.

“ _ Shut your mouth,”  _ he snapped. Adam, however, straightened, and put one hand on his hip, extending the other in a “what the fuck are  _ you  _ going to do about it” gesture. He let himself grin, exactly like the cocky asshole everyone who threw that insult at him thought he was. It was a nasty little mashup of “beta tester” and “cheater,” hurled at anyone who the insulter thought had some kind of unfair advantage in the game. Adam was well and familiar with it. After all, back on the first floor, he was the first person it was used against.

“Yeah, actually,” he said, “I am. You might recognize my username. It’s Heylel. Back on Floor One? They  _ created  _ the word ‘beater’  _ just for me. _ ” Curtis actually took a step back.

“The Black Star Swordsman,” he said, and he looked between Shiro and Keith. “Surely the two of you don’t want to be seen with someone like  _ him?”  _

“Who we’re  _ seen with  _ is our concern, not yours,” Shiro said, icily, and he squeezed Adam’s shoulder. “If you know Heylel’s reputation, you know we’re more than safe with him. Go back to the guild. That’s an order.”

Curtis growled, tightly, and then turned and stormed off. Adam exhaled, dropping his shoulders and shaking his head a little. He huddled in on himself, looking guiltily down at his feet.

“Sorry,” he said, “that was...probably unnecessary.”

“Hey,” Keith frowned, and he reached up, gently gripping Adam’s chin and turning his head so he was looking Keith in the eyes, “no, it wasn’t. Curtis came at you. You were just defending yourself. And maybe he’ll consider being less of a dick next time.”

“Come on,” Shiro said, gently tugging Adam by the shoulder, “let’s get back to our place. We’re not going to let Curtis ruin the evening.”

* * *

“Wow,” Adam said softly, spinning around on his heels as he took in Shiro and Keith’s flat. It was soft, and homey, and absolutely nothing like Adam’s cramped place several floors down. “This is...really nice.”

“It took a while of saving,” Shiro said, “but it was worth it. Get comfortable, and then we can get started.” He ducked out of view, and Keith slipped into the kitchen, and Adam took a breath.

He wasn’t sure what “comfortable” meant, exactly. Still, he unequipped his longcoat, armor, and sword, and it felt nice to be down to just a t-shirt and comfy pants. His boots went too—they were thick and heavy and armored, not necessary for a nice dinner in Shiro and Keith’s nice little apartment.

When Shiro stepped back in, he was out of his Voltron guild armor, and apparently, his idea of “something comfortable” was even more casual than Adam’s. He was wearing a loose hot pink crop top and black shorts that hugged his thighs, which was distracting enough. On top of that, though, he’d also liberated his hair from its usual ponytail, which let it cascade down his back like some romance novel hero’s ebon-black tresses. Adam took a sharp breath, letting his eyes drift downward briefly before forcibly jerking them back up.

“Uh,” he said, articulately.

“It’s nice to see you out of armor,” Shiro said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you  _ not  _ ready to fight.”

“Uh.” Adam said, again. Keith peeked out of the kitchen, and Adam could see that he’d taken his long braid and done it up into a low bun, probably to keep it out of his way while he cooked. 

“I’ve got everything set up, if you want to bring the ingredient over,” he said, beckoning. “I’m thinking a...well, ragout? Since it’s ragout venison?” Adam stepped into the kitchen, and glanced over the ingredients Keith had laid out. He also let his eyes drift to Keith himself, looking comfortable in a loose tank top and what Adam was pretty sure were sweats. “Everything here’s kosher, right?” 

“Looks like,” Adam said, and he gave Keith a fond, soft smile. “A ragout sounds great.” 

“I think so too, Moonbeam,” Shiro said, and Keith nodded.

“Good, then let me get it started.” He pulled a chef’s knife out of his inventory, and with a quick  _ tap  _ on each set of ingredients, they were instantly perfectly chopped. The whole collection was dumped into a pot, and then Keith turned and put it in the oven. “Obviously, this would be a lot harder in the real world, especially with stuff like measuring exactly the right spices and so on, but in SAO…” He shrugged. “If your cooking skill’s high enough, just like with weapon skills, the system mostly does it for you.”

“Huh,” Adam said, tilting his head to the side. “I’ve mostly tried simple recipes, in the past, so I never really noticed? But that makes a lot of sense.”

“You can still do things outside the system’s guidance,” Keith said, “and inventing new recipes is fun, but for this, with such a special ingredient, I want to make sure it’s perfect.” He blushed, and ducked his head, for reasons that were beyond Adam. “Anyway, I’m gonna make a few side dishes—you can hang around if you want to make sure everything’s okay for you to eat, but otherwise, if you and Shiro want to sit and talk, you can?”

“I kinda just want to watch you work,” Adam said, which made Keith blush darker, which was odd. 

“Okay,” he said.

“It  _ is  _ a nice show,” Shiro laughed, and he leaned on the counter. Keith rolled his eyes, and turned his attention back to gathering ingredients.

It was strange, Adam thought, how easily they accepted him. How welcome and comfortable and  _ safe  _ he felt, bantering with Shiro and Keith over meal preparations, and then over dinner. He barely noticed the time passing, or the dishes emptying, until he was staring down at an empty plate with no more to go back for.

“That was...fantastic,” he said, and he gave Keith a fond smile. “I’ll keep an eye out for other rare ingredients, I’d love to do this again sometime.” 

“I’m glad we got to experience this together,” Shiro said, and his voice was soft, and warm, and when Adam turned to him, he was looking at Adam in a way that made Adam’s heart do something he couldn’t quite explain. “That we all made it long enough.”

“Yeah,” Adam agreed, faintly. He looked over at Keith, who had a deeply indulgent smile on his face. “It’s…really nice, spending time with you guys.” It felt like a confession to something Adam should be keeping secret. Like he was dancing too close to telling Shiro and Keith how he really felt about them. How much he’d like this to be  _ his  _ apartment, too, and how much he’d like to kiss Keith, or fall asleep curled up with Shiro. How much he wanted to feel like there was someone, anyone out there who would notice if he didn’t come home one day. 

It was ridiculous to hope for that with them, of course. Shiro and Keith were together, and happy, and Adam would just be ruining things for them if he tried. Just like he’d ruined things for Sachi and the rest of Moonlit Black Cat. 

“You could do that more often, you know,” Keith said, softly. “I know you’re a solo player, and I know a lot of people in the guild wouldn’t trust you...but we’ll have your back. So will Lance, and Lotor, and Alfor really liked you, that one time you guys met.” Adam swallowed, tightly, and shook his head.

“I can’t,” he said, tightly.

“Adam…” Shiro’s voice was so gentle, it broke his heart. “Ever since we got to floor 70, the monster algorithms have gotten more complex and irregular. It’s more dangerous. There are things a solo player can’t handle, and you might not be able to teleport out if you run into them.”

“I know that,” Adam admitted, and he stared down at his lap. “But I don’t…I’d never really fit in with a guild, and I think you both know that. No matter how much anyone vouched for me. And there aren’t exactly a lot of party members who could keep up with me. You two. Maybe Lance and Lotor. Allura probably. But I can’t drag you away from your responsibilities just to make sure I don’t get myself killed.”

“And what if we want to go?” Shiro asked. “We could party up with you for a few days. See if you change your mind.” Adam jerked up in his seat, and looked between Keith and Shiro, and wilted a little at the sincerity on both their faces.

“Adam…” Keith began, softly, “we don’t want to lose you. Let us do this.”

“What about your guild?” Adam asked.

“Lance and Lotor can  _ more  _ than handle things.” Shiro waved a hand.

“And your bodyguard?” 

“Guild rules are no parties smaller than three. Oops, looks like you’re our third.” Keith’s expression turned slightly mischievous. “It’s a good idea and you know it.”

Shiro quirked an eyebrow, pulled up the party invite screen, and shot one off to Adam. In front of him, the “Shiro & Thunderstorm invite you to join their party” notification made him sigh. 

“Alright,” he said, and he tapped “accept.”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter what, this was a terrible idea. But clearly neither Keith nor Shiro was going to back down, and Adam couldn’t say no to them. Not really. 

“Good. We’ll meet you tomorrow morning,” Keith said. “We can do a dungeon crawl, map a little further forward. It’ll be fun.” Adam snorted, and then paused.

“...You know, I was going to say something snarky, but actually, it probably will be fun, doing this with the two of you.”

“We’ll be happy to have you, Sunshine,” Shiro said, and the nickname made Adam’s heart jump.

It would be fun, he amended for himself, if he didn’t drop dead from a crush-induced heart attack.


	2. The Blue-Eyed Demon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternate title for this chapter: "harry potter and the audacity of this bitch"

Shiro bounced on his heels, waiting for Keith to catch up with him. It always felt like they had to hope and pray and chase to get a chance to spend time with Adam, but now they had  _ plans. _ They’d be meeting him, partying up, and doing a whole day of dungeon crawling. If they were lucky—and Shiro liked to think he was usually pretty lucky—they might convince him to do it again.

There was, however, one lingering dark spot.

Keith slid up next to Shiro, dropping out of stealth, and he was frowning.

“He’s still following us?” Shiro asked. Keith nodded.

“Unfortunately,” he said, and he glanced backwards, rolling his eyes. “Hopefully he won’t follow us after we teleport. Come on, Starlight, let’s go.” Shiro nodded, and stepped up onto the teleportation stone, winding his fingers with Keith’s.

“Teleport: Calmdet,” they both said, in unison, and the stone flared to life, and when the light faded away, they were in the safe zone village of Floor 74. The open square around the teleportation stones was bare dirt, surrounded by buildings roofed with terracotta tiles. Like all of the safe zones, it felt a little homey and quaint; Shiro had to admit, he far preferred Selmburg, back on floor 61, where he and Keith had their apartment overlooking the water.

Except, of course, for the small detail that at the moment, Calmdet had Adam, and he was waiting for them right in front of the teleport pad. 

“Adam!” Keith hopped down, tugging Shiro with him, and Adam turned to face them, and Shiro watched his face light up with a smile. That smile did things to Shiro’s heart—things he’d been anxious about, once, because he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to get intense pitter-patters over other pretty boys when he was dating Keith. They’d talked about it, though, and one of the goals of Operation: Get Adam to Spend Time With Them was to see if he was as interested in Shiro and Keith as they were in him.

“Shiro! Keith! There you guys are.” He strode over, casually, and reached up to muss his bangs a little. “What’s the plan for the day?”

“Well,” Keith started, “we were thinking—”

Shiro heard the teleportation stone whirl up behind them, and as casually as he could manage, he grabbed Adam’s arm and started tugging him along.

“Come on, dungeons to clear, no time to waste, we can walk and talk,” he said. Maybe if they were lucky, they could get out of the square before the teleport finished.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Adam asked, and he sounded so genuinely concerned, Shiro had to pause and sigh, fondly.

“What do you think,” he said, just as the sequence finished.

“Sir!” Curtis’s voice came from the teleport rock, and Shiro groaned, letting go of Keith and Adam so that he could bury his face in his hands. “Vice-Captain Shiro, sir, you can’t be running off like this!” 

“Last I checked, I was a grown adult, so yes, actually, I  _ can  _ be running off like this,” Shiro shot back, and he turned to face Curtis, putting his hands on his hips. “And what, exactly, were you doing lurking outside Keith and I’s home this morning?”

Really, Shiro understood Alfor’s caution, wanting guild members not to be alone. The threat from Laughing Coffin was real and serious; they’d nearly lost Lance and Lotor to an ambush. But Curtis’s devotion felt like significantly more than just wanting to keep his Vice-Captains safe, and it set off all kinds of alarm bells in Shiro’s head.

Also, he was pretty sure that Curtis would not be all that broken up if something happened to Keith, and that made Shiro trust him even less.

“You tend to wander off without warning, sir, and so for the past month I’ve been keeping an eye on you at home as well as in the field,” Curtis said. “My mission is to keep you safe, wherever you are.”

“You  _ what? _ ” Keith demanded. “Your  _ mission  _ is to be our backup if Laughing Coffin tries to  _ kill us,  _ not to  _ stalk us home!”  _ Curtis gave Keith a flat, unimpressed look, but only for the briefest moment.

“I was concerned when I saw you leave, and I suspected you might be going to find this…person again.” Curtis strode forward, beckoning to Shiro. “Come on, we’ll go back to headquarters. It’s much safer there.”

Shiro heard Adam let out a tiny little growl, and then he stepped forward, moving between Curtis and Shiro and Keith. He put a hand on his hip and tilted his head to the side, affecting exactly the same cocky asshole sort of stance he’d used when he’d claimed the title of “beater” the day before. 

Shiro had to admit, seeing Adam grin like that was…hot.

“Sorry, but I’ll be borrowing your Vice-Captains for the day,” Adam said, and his tone was forced casual, but Shiro could hear an undercurrent of rage just below the surface. “You’ll have to make due without them. I’ll take personal responsibility for their security, so you can let Alfor know they’re in very good hands. It’s not like we’re doing a boss raid or anything, so they’ll be fine. Go on, run along home. Chop chop.”

“You…” Curtis growled, and reached for the hilt of his weapon. “A beater like you wouldn’t have any idea how to protect other people. You’d let them die to save your own skin.”

Adam tensed, and Shiro stepped forward, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Adam,” he said, gently, but Adam shrugged the hand off, and fixed Curtis with a smile that made a chill go down Shiro’s spine.

“Really? Because the way you’re focused on Shiro makes me think that you’re not all that concerned with Keith’s safety, so I think just by virtue of wanting to make sure  _ both  _ of them come home, I’m doing a better job than you,” he said, and Shiro watched Curtis pale at the accusation, and then sputter angrily, but he noted that Curtis didn’t actually have a  _ response. _

Good, great, Shiro loved that. Really, he did.

“You talk a big game, beater,” Curtis said, and he brought up his player menu, “so I’m going to give you a chance to prove you’re as tough as you say.” 

A  _ Duel Application  _ window popped up in front of Adam, and Shiro inhaled tightly.

“What the hell do you think you’re  _ doing? _ ” Keith demanded, striding forward to stand next to Adam.

“Look,” Adam said, “if he wants to be schooled in front of all these people, I’m happy to take him to class. My only worry is making your guild look bad.” He glanced over at Shiro, and behind all the bluster, Shiro could tell that he was very genuinely seeking permission to go through with this.

“You wouldn’t be the one making us look bad,” Shiro said, voice tight and flinty. “Go ahead. We’ll let Alfor know what happened.”

“Alright then,” Adam said, “you’ve got yourself a duel.” He tapped the “accept” button, and then he and Curtis moved into position, as the system counted down. Forty paces apart, like this was some nineteenth-century pistol exchange.

Shiro took a few steps away, and tugged Keith with him, and as they moved into the crowd, he could hear excited whispers. 

_ “Is that Heylel?” _

_ “Heylel and some dude from the Voltron Lions, yeah,” _

_ “Oh, this is gonna be  _ ** _good_ ** _ .” _

Shiro couldn’t help but agree.

Curtis drew his weapon, a hefty hand-and-a-half sword with a narrow, decorated ricasso that flared into a dangerous double-edged blade. Adam drew his longsword, spinning it in hand, and Shiro frowned.

The last time he and Keith had met Adam, it had been at Hunk’s blacksmith shop, where he’d commissioned a special sword made from crystallite, an extremely rare metal that granted powerful enhancements to any weapon crafted from it. According to Hunk, it had been a hell of a journey to even get any. 

Crystallite, however, was bright blue. The sword in Adam’s hand was jet black. The same one he’d been using before.

Was he saving the better one for something else? That seemed silly; it wasn’t like weapon durability was a problem.

Not that Shiro had much time to ponder the question.

The timer ticked down, and Adam and Curtis leapt at each other, swords glowing with activated Skills.

Shiro couldn’t see the actual clash, but he could see the results.

The blade of Curtis’s sword went flying, hacked off at the end of the ricasso. Curtis stared at the remains of his sword in his hand for the moment it took for it to dissolve into fragments, and then he collapsed to his knees.

“H- _ how _ ?” Curtis demanded. Adam straightened, and casually resheathed his sword.

“You weren’t worth bloodying my blade, especially not with a garbage, gimmick sword like that.” Adam said, coldly. “If you want to come at me again, with another weapon, I’ll be glad to take you on. Or we can call it a day and you can accept you lost.”

Curtis snarled, and whirled back to his feet, drawing a knife.

That, Shiro felt, was exactly enough of  _ that  _ bullshit.

He moved quickly, interposing himself between Adam and Curtis, and caught Curtis’s knife with his bracer. 

“That’s  _ enough. _ ” He fixed Curtis with his deadliest stare, and Curtis wilted.

“S-sir,” he stammered, “he cheated, destroying my sword—”

“Adam’s sword is made out of stronger metal than yours. That’s all there is to it,” Keith said, sauntering over casually. He put an arm on Adam’s shoulder, and leaned in, giving him a playful grin. “Nice work, Sunshine.”

“Thanks, Kitten,” Adam teased back.

“Curtis,” Shiro said, and his tone was still tight and dangerous, as cute as it was to watch Keith flirt, “go back to the guild. You are hereby relieved of your duties as our guard.”

“Sir!” Curtis said, and he took a half step back in shock. Then, he narrowed his eyes at Adam, and growled. “ _ You,” _ he said, “we are  _ not done.” _

“Yes, you are.” Shiro made sure his tone brooked no arguments. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see Adam give a cheeky wave.

“ _ Hapess me sheh ya-enay-otcha! _ ” Adam called after Curtis, far too cheerily for the situation, and Shiro squinted at him, briefly.

“...That’s vulgar, isn’t it,” he said, and Adam shrugged.

“Extremely, but it might put him in a better mood if he follows the suggestion,” he said, and then he shook his head. “So, now that we’ve successfully ditched your babysitter, are we going dungeon-crawling?”

“Yes, please,” Keith said. “I would rather deal with monsters than Curtis.”

“Monsters are a vast improvement because they don’t  _ talk, _ ” Adam said, dryly. “And anyway, if the two of you want to take a day to party with a loser solo player like me, I don’t see how that’s anyone’s business but ours.” He ducked his head, but Shiro still caught the edge of a soft smile. “I’m glad you want to, though. I haven’t actually felt  _ excited  _ to go monster hunting in forever. It’s just been...you know, what I have to do, because we need to keep moving and clear this place? But doing it with you guys is...fun.”

“That’s the idea,” Shiro said, and he slung an arm around Adam’s waist and tugged, lightly. “Come on, let’s go.”

* * *

Shiro was used to the easy synchronicity of fighting with Keith, heavy strikes from Shiro’s two-handed sword alternating with the quick, darting attacks Keith could achieve with his dual daggers. What he hadn’t expected was how easily Adam slipped in, like the three of them were doing a deadly, perfectly choreographed dance that left monsters dead in their wake. Adam was light on his feet and powerful and precise with his sword, and it was easy to see how he’d managed to survive so long as a solo player. 

As they walked, Shiro noticed Adam monitoring the slowly filling-in map of the dungeon. His face was screwed up with confrontation, and he kept reaching up to adjust his glasses, like he wasn’t sure he was seeing properly. It was, in a word...incredibly cute. 

“Oh, shit,” Keith said, which jerked Shiro’s attention away from Adam, and Adam’s away from his map. “Look,” Keith gestured forward, and Shiro inhaled sharply.

“ _ Ben zonna, _ ” Adam said, and Shiro made a noise of agreement. In front of them were two massive doors, engraved with twisted, monstrous creatures.

“We found the boss room,” Shiro said, and then he glanced over at Adam and Keith. “....Should we take a look inside?”

“I mean, we can at least scout out what’s there, right?” Adam didn’t sound particularly convinced of the idea. “We can bring everyone more information if we do. Start making plans for how to beat it.”

“Since we’re here,” Keith said, and he pulled a teleport crystal out of his inventory. Shiro and Adam followed suit, and the three of them slowly approached the boss door. 

“Ready?” Shiro asked. Adam nodded sharply.

“Ready,” Keith replied, and the three of them carefully pushed the doors open, stepping into the darkened room beyond.

“Huh,” Adam said, softly. “Nothing here. That’s...weird.” He took a few more steps forward, and Shiro took a quick step in to stay close to him, free hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

Suddenly, around them, braziers began to bloom with blue fire, lighting up the room. 

And lighting up the creature in the center of it.

The boss was absolutely massive, a blue beast that put Shiro in the mind of illustrations of the demon Baphomet. Goat-headed, with massive curled ram horns, and built like an absolute tank, the creature used its huge sword to push itself up, revealing a tail that was a hissing, snapping snake. The interface above its head identified it as The Gleam Eyes, and its four massive health bars filled in as Shiro watched in frozen horror.

Then, its eyes lit up an ethereal blue, and it roared, lunging forward.

“ _ Fuck, _ ” Adam gasped, and Shiro felt an arm around his a second before Adam started tugging him and Keith towards the door. Not that either of them actually needed encouragement, because there was no way in Hell a party of three could take out a whole floor boss.

Shiro wasn’t even sure how long they ran for, but they found a pillar of the strange black material all of Floor 74’s labyrinth’s walls were made out of and ducked behind it, and Shiro slowly sank to the ground. It wasn’t surprising to him to have Keith drop and tuck up against his side, but he  _ did  _ start a little when Adam’s head dropped onto his shoulder.

“Well, now that we’ve had our daily dose of  _ absolute pants-shitting terror, _ everybody okay?” Adam asked, and Shiro inhaled tightly. 

“I’m fine,” Keith said, and then he laughed, the breezy, breathless laugh of someone still running on adrenaline. “Kashi?”

“I’m good, Baby,” Shiro squeaked, but he couldn’t help but glance over, repeatedly, at Adam’s head on his shoulder, waiting for the moment when Adam would realize what he was doing and sit up. Back home, and even here in Aincrad, Shiro had fallen down more flights of stairs and tripped over his feet more times than he could count, because Keith smiled, or laughed, or otherwise made him feel like a giant gay disaster. Having Adam leaning against him, casually, like this was perfectly normal, was definitely making him feel the emotional equivalent of doing all of that, at once, at high speed.

“Well.  _ That’s  _ gonna be tough to beat,” Keith said, and Adam nodded. He straightened, but his shoulder was still pressed flush against Shiro’s, and he didn’t exactly move far.

“I saw one giant sword, and I’m pretty sure it was gearing up for some kind of breath attack when we booked it,” he said.

“We’ll need tanks up front,” Shiro thought aloud, trying to drag himself out of the circling loop of  _ Adam’s leaning on me!! Cute boy!! In my space!! Send help!!  _ “And we’ll have to keep switching in and out to wear it down.”

“And it wouldn’t hurt to have ten or so shield users,” Adam mused aloud.

The mention of shields reminded Shiro of something, and he sat up a little, squinting over at Adam.

“You know, speaking of, I noticed something during your duel with Curtis.”

“Huh?” Adam blinked at him, and Shiro had to swallow to force himself not to get distracted by those pretty green eyes, close enough for him to really observe the color. 

“It’s just...you use a one-handed sword,” Shiro began. “The advantage of those, usually, is using a shield with it. But you don’t. Keith uses daggers because it means he can dual-wield, I use a heavy two-handed sword because I like the power behind it and because it makes me feel like a  _ Final Fantasy _ protagonist.” Adam snorted, faintly, at that. “But you use a one-handed sword, no shield, and that’s not the sword Hunk made you.” Shiro reached over and flicked the hilt poking over Adam’s shoulder. 

“Uh,” Adam said, and he ducked his head. “I just...like it, I guess?” Something in his tone and the way he squirmed, slightly, made Shiro half-certain he was hiding something, but seeing how uncomfortable he was, Shiro shook his head.

“Never mind, it was rude to ask you to justify your skills,” he said, and then he flashed Adam a smile, which made Adam’s cheeks get darker. Shiro filed that away under  _ “okay, Keith is probably right and Adam maybe  _ ** _does _ ** _ like us back.” _

“Anyway,” Keith said, and he shifted a little, so he was more properly snuggled against Shiro’s side, as he brought up his inventory menu, “it’s late enough that we might as well take a lunch break before we start heading back.” He tapped one of his items, and a basket appeared in his lap. 

“....Today is a very, very good day,” Adam said, and Keith laughed, pulling out a wrapped sandwich from the basket. He handed Shiro a foil-covered bowl, and pulled out a wrapped plate for himself. He also produced a pair of chopsticks, which he offered to Shiro, and a fork for himself. As eager as Shiro was to dig in—because he was pretty sure he could guess what Keith had made him—he watched Adam unwrap his stuffed-pocket sandwich first, and blink down at it. “Is this…?” He looked back over at Keith with wide eyes.

“Take a bite,” Keith said. “I promise, it’s kosher.”

“I know you wouldn’t fuck with me that way,” Adam said, idly, and then he bit in and his whole face lit up. He took another bite, like he had to confirm to be sure, and then gave Keith the biggest, fondest wide eyes Shiro had ever seen Adam employ. “This tastes just like a falafel pita with tahini,” he said, and Shiro grinned, peeling back the foil on his dish to reveal noodles and mushrooms.

“Keith’s been working really hard to nail the flavors of Earth foods using Aincrad ingredients,” Shiro said. “This, for instance, is a pretty good recreation of my Ojiisan’s shiitake udon, and I’d bet anything that what Keith has is—yeah,” he grinned, interrupting himself as Keith pulled off the foil to reveal dumplings covered in sauce on his plate. “Kolivan’s pierogies.” 

“Kolivan?” Adam blinked.

“My dad,” Keith said, “or. One of them? It’s kinda complicated. Mom’s in a polycule with my birth dad, Kolivan, and Kolivan’s Antok.” Adam made a soft ‘hmm’ noise, and then nodded.

“Gotcha,” he said. “So, how’d you do it?”

“Oh, I just…” Keith shrugged. “I studied the Flavor Recreation System, and figured out how all the different seasonings interacted to recreate Earth flavors. It took a while, but it was worth it, and I can make pretty much anything now. This, for instance,” he pointed at the sauce on his plate, “actually tastes pretty much just like sour cream and dill, and you’ve already tasted that I figured out falafel and tahini.”

“That’s...amazing,” Adam said, voice full of wonder.

“It’s been pretty incredible watching him experiment,” Shiro said. “Keith has a real gift.” Keith blushed, and turned his attention to his plate.

“Just eat,” he said, and he waved his fork in Shiro’s direction. Shiro laughed and leaned down to dig into his bowl of noodles. Adam clearly also didn’t need to be told twice, because he went right to digging in.

It was silly, Shiro knew, because they were still trapped, and he wanted to go home someday, but part of him wished that this never had to end. It was nice, and easy, and comfortable, to have Adam leaning on one side, laughing and joking with Keith, who was leaning on the other. It felt  _ right.  _ It kept going even after lunch was done and their portable dishes disappeared.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t last. 

There were footsteps, coming down the corridor, and Adam was the first to stand up. It was a sobering reminder of the type of life Adam lived, as a solo player, that all it took to have him on his feet with his hand on his sword hilt was the sound of another person approaching. Shiro followed him to his feet, and Keith went with them, drawing his daggers from their sheathes on his hips. Adam relaxed, however, when the group came around the way, and Shiro was surprised to actually see his face soften into a smile.

“James!” he called, and the leader looked up, surprised.

“Adam?” He asked, and then he lit up. Shiro recognized him and his group; they were one of the smaller guilds that still showed up on the front lines. “It’s good to see you!”

“Glad you’re still alive,” Adam said, “and that Ares Wing still has all of its members. James, this is Keith and Shiro, they’re with Voltron; Keith, Shiro, this is James,” he gestured to the guild leader; “Nadia,” a pretty girl armed with a pair of katars; “Ryan,” a young man with a bow slung over his back; “and Ina,” a delicate looking blonde with a mace at her side and a shield on her back. “James and I met on launch day.”

“Adam helped me learn the ropes,” James said, and he stepped forward, and offered a hand. Shiro took it, and shook. “I’ve seen you two before, at boss fights. You’re the Voltron Vice-Captains, right?”

“We are,” Shiro said, and he stepped aside to let Keith shake James’s hand as well. “Be careful going forward—we found the boss room. It’s not far from here.”

“Thanks for the warning,” James said, and he winced. “We are...definitely not prepared for a boss raid.”

“Don’t be such a pessimist, Jimothy!” Nadia said, brightly.

“Nadia, we’ve talked about using that name,” James said, tightly.

“Have we?” Nadia tapped her chin.

“You have,” Ina said, “approximately two dozen times.”

Shiro glanced over to see Adam hiding an indulgent smile behind his hand. He shifted, putting a hand on Adam’s shoulder and leaning in close.

“You’re fond of them, huh?” Shiro asked, watching the four bicker.

“Immensely,” Adam admitted. “When we met back on launch day, James had no idea how to play at all. Now, he’s leading a guild. And these four aren’t all of Ares Wing—there’s a bunch more players, too.”

“He clearly looks up to you,” Shiro said, and Adam nodded.

“I know. I’ve been working hard to be the person he thinks I am.” He smiled over at Shiro, in that way that made Shiro’s heart skip. “And the person you and Keith think I am.”

“The person we  _ know  _ you are,” Shiro said, softly. Adam shook his head a little, but didn’t verbally protest, just tucked one of the loose bangs framing his face behind his ear and ducked his head. The shy way he smiled down at his feet, though, told Shiro everything he needed to know about how well the compliment landed.

He jerked his head back up, though, at the clunking sound of dozens of in-time footsteps. 

“Is that…?” He narrowed his eyes at the newcomers, and Shiro gave them a once-over too.

“The Aincrad Liberation Garrison. The big guild that runs Floor One. What are they doing all the way up here?” He mused, aloud. Keith moved over next to them, and frowned.

“Strange. They haven’t been participating in boss battles since over half of them got wiped back on Floor 25,” he said, in the tone that said he had a lot of thoughts on a subject but wasn’t actually ready to voice any conclusions just yet. “Last I heard, they were consolidating power, not raiding.”

“At ease!” The one in front, who had to be their leader, said. It was a woman, but that was about all Shiro could guess, considering that she, like all the members of the Garrison, wore a helmet that concealed most of her face and heavy armor.

The command seemed more like permission, especially with the way the men behind her, nearly to a one, collapsed to the ground when it was given. Shiro frowned, and he watched something darken on Keith’s face. Adam straightened his back, and fixed her with a flat stare.

“I am with the Aincrad Liberation Garrison,” she said. “General Sanda.”

“Heylel. Solo player.” Shiro noted that Adam fell back on his username, rather than his actual name. 

“As you say,” she said, in a way that clearly indicated she didn’t believe him. “Have you cleared the area ahead?”

“We have,” Adam replied. “We also have a map with directions to the boss room.”

“Wonderful,” she said, and she held out her hand, “hand it over.”

“You can’t be serious!” Nadia said. James crossed his arms and frowned.

“Mapping is extremely difficult, which makes map data incredibly valuable,” he said.

“The Garrison shares information freely with civilian players regularly. We are here to maintain order and ensure that everyone leaves this game as quickly as possible,” Sanda said, “which means it is your  _ duty  _ to  _ hand over that map.” _ Shiro inhaled, tightly. He didn’t like where this was going, at all.

“Easy,” Adam said, and he held up a hand. “I was going to distribute the map data when we got back to town anyway. I don’t intend to make money off it. If it’ll help get us out of here, take it.” He pulled up the interface to share, and Sanda pulled up her own. The map data exchange only took a moment, and Sanda gave a sharp nod.

“Thank you,” she said, and then she turned. “Alright, men. Up! Forward!”

Shiro ground his teeth. It rankled, to see her drag clearly exhausted soldiers further into the dungeon.

“Hey,” Adam said, “I wouldn’t recommend hitting the boss. It won’t go well.”

“You know nothing about the capabilities of me  _ or  _ my soldiers. Be  _ silent.” _ Sanda’s voice was sharp, like she expected to be obeyed.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Adam protested. “I’ve been in that room! There’s no way for you to beat that monster if your men are all half-dead! Look at them! They’re exhausted!”

“Garrison soldiers are far stronger than  _ exhaustion, _ ” Sanda snapped. “Now,  _ out of our way.” _

Adam growled, softly, but stepped aside, and Shiro moved with him, reaching up to squeeze his shoulder gently.

“We can’t let them go alone,” Ryan said, frowning. “If they hit a boss like that, they’ll be killed.”

“No, you’re right,” Adam agreed. “We can’t. Ugh.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, then turned, and started walking. Most of the rest of Ares Wing followed, but James lingered, and when Shiro started forward to catch up, James caught him by the shoulder.

“Can I have a second?” He asked. “From you and Keith.” Keith paused, and waited, and Shiro nodded.

“Yeah?”

“It’s...look,” James glanced away, “I know Adam can be abrasive, and hard to deal with, especially when you consider his tendency to run into danger, but...he’s a good person. Please. Look out for him?” Shiro softened, and gave James a smile and a nod.

“We will, don’t worry,” he said.

“He’s in good hands,” Keith agreed, and Shiro felt his heart melt, seeing the soft smile on Keith’s face.

“Good,” James aid, and he strode forward, and then paused. “...Don’t tell Adam about this. He’d never forgive me for having the audacity to give a shit.” Shiro snorted.

“Your secret’s safe with us,” he said, lightly, and then he kept walking. Keith fell in line beside him, and they headed back into the labyrinth.

* * *

James growled unhappily as his sword passed through a monster, shattering it into rainbow pixels. Shiro sympathized, deeply.

“That’s the last of these things, and we still haven’t found those Garrison idiots.” James shook his head.

“You don’t think they actually pushed into the boss room?” Ryan frowned, glancing down the way.

“That’s all that’s left,” Keith said, unhappily. 

“Son of a bitch,” Adam sighed, and he stared down the hallway. “Maybe they teleported out. Made the smart choice.” 

“That’s optimistic,” James grumbled, “especially considering—”

There was an absolutely horrific scream from down the hall, and Adam inhaled sharply. 

“No,” he gasped. “Shiro, Keith!” 

“With you,” Shiro said. As if there was any question. Or any room for hesitation. He charged forward after Adam, and glanced back in time to see James fall in behind them.

“Idiots,” Keith growled as they ran, sliding around the last corner to the boss room. The doors were wide open, and as they ran closer, they could see the scene splayed out in front of them: members of the Garrison scattered around on the ground, taken down either by exhaustion or by the boss’s massive sword.

“Get out of there! Use your teleport crystals!” Adam demanded, and one of the soldiers turned to him in open, shaking horror.

“We can’t!” The man said. “Our crystals aren’t working!”

“No,” Shiro whispered, and he watched as Adam tensed, frozen, his eyes going wide and his hands coming up to cover his mouth. “I’ve never heard of a trap like this in a boss room before.” Usually, that was their last way out, a retreat when no victory was possible. Not today.

“We can’t retreat, so we keep fighting,” Sanda growled, and she gestured with her sword. “Forward! Charge!” 

“ _ Don’t do it!”  _ Adam screamed, and he lurched forward, but it was too late. The monster bellowed out a breath attack, and then brought its sword down, scattering the Garrison soldiers. Another solid swing caught Sanda, and sent her flying, to collapse in the doorway.

“Sanda!” Adam ran forward, and knelt next to her. “It’s alright, hold on—”

She gasped, a terrible death rattle, and her helmet shattered to pieces, revealing her face, for just a moment. She was older, with gray hair, and she put Shiro briefly in the mind of his grandmother—who had to be hurting so much, with him gone all this time. 

Adam reached out, and under his hand, she dissolved.

“No,” Adam’s voice shook, and his hand dropped. Part of Shiro wanted to pull him close, comfort him, especially since it was obvious that this was about more than the Aincrad Liberation Garrison making yet another terrible choice that cost lives. 

The rest was fixed on the monster, who was bringing down its massive sword in the direction of another soldier.

“ _ No! _ ” Shiro snarled, and he charged forward.

“ _ Shiro!” _ He heard Adam and Keith scream his name, but he didn’t hesitate. He launched forward, slamming his sword into the boss’s back, which knocked it off balance and had it whirling towards him. Being in the air, though, meant that he didn’t have time to dodge when it swung its fist around, sending him flying. When he looked up, Adam and Keith were fighting the monster, Keith harrying with quick strikes from his daggers while Adam parried the monster’s massive blade with his own. James and the rest of Ares Wing were collecting the Garrison survivors, hauling them towards the door of the boss room.

There weren’t enough people to move them all, though, and he watched Adam take a solid hit moving to defend a group of fallen soldiers. He caught the monster’s next strike with his blade, over his shoulder, and winced under what had to be a massive weight. 

“Shiro! Keith! James!” Adam said, “I need you to cover me for ten seconds! Can you do that?” 

“Absolutely,” Shiro pushed himself off the ground and rushed back in.

“We’ve got you,” James declared, and Keith just gave a sharp nod. Adam nodded back, and then ducked and rolled away, and Shiro moved in to catch the beast’s blade before it could turn to follow him.

He only had a few seconds to glance over and see what Adam was doing, and it looked like he was scrolling his skill list. Shiro frowned, but he couldn’t keep his attention off the fight for long.

“Alright, switch back!” Adam shouted, and Shiro rolled out, giving him a chance to slide back in.

As he did, he watched Adam reach behind him. A second sheath appeared on his back, this one the bright blue of the crystallite sword Hunk had crafted for him.

It was supposed to be impossible. The only weapon you were supposed to be able to dual wield was daggers, which were light and fast, but traded single-hit damage for speed. Keith was unique, in that one of his daggers could change shape and be used as a longsword, but he had to unequip the offhand weapon to do it.

Except when Adam launched forward to strike at the boss, it was with two longswords, wielded just as expertly as he’d wielded one.

“ _ Starburst Stream!”  _ He shouted, and he launched forward into a torrent of strikes, blades glowing bright white.

“Shit,” Shiro gasped, softly. All he could do was watch Adam move, delivering a storm of powerful hits to the boss at speeds that shouldn’t have even been possible. Still, Shiro kept an eye on Adam’s health bar, wincing every time he took a hit and it carved away another chunk.

“Adam,” he heard Keith gasp, tensely, as the monster caught one of his swords in its massive fist, and it brought its sword down, towards him— 

With a yell, Adam launched forward, second sword driving through the monster’s torso, right as its blade sliced into his side.

The monster dissolved into pixels.

Adam swayed on his feet, for a moment.

“Is it...over?” He asked, and Shiro shot off the ground, running towards him, but he was too slow.

He watched the last tiny sliver of Adam’s health bar deplete, and then Adam collapsed, right into Shiro’s arms.

“No,” Shiro gasped. “ _ No!  _ Sunshine, please, no!” Not that there was anything Adam could do about it, even if he could hear Shiro. That was it. If your health dropped to zero, you were dead, barring a few incredibly, wildly rare items that Shiro wasn’t even sure existed.

He’d never even had the chance to tell Adam how he felt. Neither he nor Keith had. It was so  _ incredibly  _ unfair.

He barely registered James kneeling next to him, and offering him a strange blue crystal, until James shoved it into Adam’s chest.

“What the hell,” Keith said, dropping to his knees next to them, but there was no actual force in his voice, just shaken, tremulous horror.

“It’s a revive item. The  _ only  _ revive item.” James’s voice was tight, too. “Adam got it from Nicholas the Renegade, that second Christmas we were all in here. I think there was someone he wanted to bring back, but the thing is...it only works immediately. So I’ve held onto it, because I had a feeling…”

Shiro didn’t dare speak. It was a good sign, he hoped, that Adam hadn’t faded away, yet, the way people who died always did. His eyes flicked back up to Adam’s health bar, and he only let himself breathe again when he saw a tiny, almost imperceptible sliver of red.

Even then, he couldn’t speak when Adam’s eyes finally opened. All he could do was pull Adam into a tight hug, which made him make a tiny squeaking noise. He buried his face in Adam’s shoulder, and felt rather than saw Keith move to press against Adam from behind.

“What...happened?” Adam asked, and he sounded bleary, like he’d woken up from a deep sleep.

“You  _ died,  _ you fucking idiot,” James snapped, and Shiro felt Adam wince. “What the hell kind of stupid heroic bullshit  _ was  _ that?”

“There was no other way. Had to take it down fast, before it killed anyone else,” Adam said, and Shiro made an unhappy growling noise. “A couple months ago, I found that Dual Wield—Longsword skill in my list. It ups your damage and attack speed. ‘S why I went to Hunk for a second sword.”

“It killed  _ you!” _ James protested. “You’re lucky I was here, and that I still had that item you gave me after the Christmas event, you—fucking—”

“Yeah, that’s. Pretty lucky,” Adam agreed. “Sorry for scaring you guys.”

“Ugh, here.” Shiro didn’t have to see to know that James had just shoved a health potion into Adam’s hand. 

“Thanks,” Adam said, and then Shiro finally felt Adam’s arm wrap around his waist. He guessed the other was reaching behind them, for Keith. “What about—?”

“Sanda and two of her soldiers were the only other casualties,” Ina said, and Shiro lifted his head up, a little, to look around.

“We haven’t lost a player in a bossfight since Floor 67,” Adam exhaled, unhappily.

“That wasn’t a bossfight,” Keith growled, “that was  _ suicide.  _ There’s no fucking point to what we do if you  _ die.  _ We’re supposed to go  _ home. _ ” Adam made a tiny, guilty-sounding noise, and Keith nuzzled at his shoulder. 

“And and and!” Nadia demanded, kneeling down next to them, “why isn’t that super awesome skill on any of the info broker lists?”

“I haven't figured out how I got it,” Adam said, “and I guess nobody else has it either.”

“A unique skill,” Keith mused. “Like Lance’s Eagle Eyes. Slows time while he aims his bow.”

“You have a  _ unique skill  _ and you never  _ told us?  _ Adam!” Nadia frowned at him, and Adam rolled his eyes.

“Because I knew you’d get like this. And that other players would be worse. I’m Heylel, the Black Star Swordsman, legendary Beater bastard, remember?” Adam sighed, and sagged backwards against Keith, who nuzzled at his shoulder more. Shiro gave him a gentle squeeze, his own form of reassurance.

“I guess,” Nadia grumbled. Adam huffed, and Shiro swore the way he shifted was more like snuggling.

“Give us a minute?” Keith asked, softly. 

“We need to trigger the warp gate anyway, so we can get to the next floor,” James said, and he stood, beckoning for his guildmates. “Have a safe trip back.”

Adam nodded, and there were a few silent moments while everyone else cleared out.

“ _ Nagusame no gekkō _ ?” Shiro asked, softly, pulling out his favorite pet name for Keith. Keith moved so that his chin was resting on Adam’s shoulder, and Shiro watched a smile flit across Adam’s face.

“I think…we should take a leave of absence from the guild, Starlight,” Keith suggested, softly. Shiro blinked, and then glanced down, to where Keith was practically clinging to Adam’s shoulders, and the reason became obvious.

“What? Why?” Adam asked, frowning.

“So that we can team up with you,” Keith replied. “Someone needs to watch your back.”

“Keith’s right,” Shiro said, gently. “The Guild will make due. Lance and Lotor and Allura can do everything we can. You, obviously, need some extra protection.”

Adam sagged backwards, and a faint smile wrote its way across his face.

“Okay,” he said, softly. “That sounds good.”


	3. Crimson Killing Intent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a discussion of a past suicide. See endnotes for more details, but it's during Adam's conversation with Keith and Shiro in the fourth scene (counting by linebreaks.) <3

Adam crossed his arms, staring at the imposing doors to the council room in the Voltron guildhall. It was certainly more elaborate than any guildhall he’d been in before, and it showed off the prestige of the foremost guild on the front lines.

He was not, however, exactly pleased to be here.

“Why does Alfor want to see me, anyway?” He asked, looking between Shiro and Keith,w ho both looked slightly helpless.

“He didn’t say,” Keith said, “just told us he wanted to talk to you before he approved our leave request.”

“What, am I about to get a shovel talk from your guild leader?” Adam raised his eyebrows. Keith snorted, but Shiro frowned, like he was seriously thinking about it. “...I’m getting a shovel talk from your guild leader.”

“It’s probably not that,” Shiro said.

“ _ Probably,”  _ Adam frowned, and Shiro shrugged. 

“...Alfor  _ has  _ been sort of parental towards all of us, so I don’t think it’s off the table?” He explained. Keith shook his head.

“It’s not a shovel talk, because that would be ridiculous,” he said, and then he strode forward. “Come on, we’re not gonna find out just standing here.”

“Right,” Adam said, and he stepped forward and took a deep breath, pushing open the doors. It all felt very dramatic, striding through them with his longcoat fluttering behind him and his dual blades strapped to his back, which…if he were being honest, he really, really liked. If you were gonna make an entrance,  _ make an entrance. _

He’d worked for months to keep his unique skill secret, but using it in front of a whole group of Garrison soldiers meant the cat was out of the bag in spectacular, “Adam literally could not return to his old flat with so many people trying to corner him and ask questions about it so he was crashing on Shiro and Keith’s couch” fashion, so he might as well show it off. 

“Alfor,” he said, and if he put a little extra swagger in the way he strode forward, well, a glance back told him Shiro’s eyes were firmly on his butt and Keith was sucking in a tight breath, so job well done. “I don’t think we’ve had a chance to talk, outside planning for boss battles.”

“No, we haven’t,” Alfor said, leaning forward and resting his chin on his fists. The way he looked Adam over felt evaluating. “Unfortunate, really. First, I’d like to congratulate you on unlocking dual longswords; it was intended to be a very difficult skill to acquire.” Adam couldn’t help it—the praise made him beam.

“Thank you, sir,” he said. It was especially good to hear that coming from Alfor, considering who he was—one of the developers of Sword Art Online, betrayed by Zarkon just as much as the players. Alfor’s presence was probably the largest reason that Voltron was as strong a guild as it had grown to. 

“Of course,” Alfor said, “such a feat deserves to be congratulated.” He gave Adam a smile, and it set something warm and fuzzy going in Adam’s chest. His own parents weren’t exactly free with praise—the opposite, really. Back home, on Earth, Adam was never good enough. Here in Aincrad, it almost felt like he finally  _ was. _

“Now, to the reason I’ve asked you here today.” He looked past Adam, at Shiro and Keith, and frowned, faintly. “As I’m sure you’re more than aware, we’re rapidly losing players on the front line. I’m loath to sacrifice two of my Vice-Captains, especially considering how close we are to the end of this nightmare. But I don’t want to say  _ no,  _ so I have a proposition for you.”

“...A proposition,” Adam said, skeptically, and he crossed his arms, regarding Alfor slightly suspiciously.

“If you want to take my Vice-Captains, you’ll have to use your dual blades to win them,” Alfor said.

“I’m sorry,  _ what. _ ” Adam looked over at Shiro, and then Keith, and both of them looked just as puzzled as he felt. 

“Sir,” Shiro began, stepping up next to Adam, but Alfor held up a hand. 

“My offer is simple: meet me for a duel. If you win, I’ll let you borrow my Vice-Captains, despite the cost to the guild. If you lose, you’ll join the Voltron Lions,” Alfor said, and Adam inhaled sharply. “Otherwise, I’ll simply deny their request, and things continue as they were.”

“This is ridiculous,” Keith said, storming forward. “We don’t—” 

“I accept,” Adam cut in, before Keith could say something he’d regret. He would just…have to win. That was all there was for it.

* * *

Alfor wasn’t doing things halfway. That wasn’t exactly a surprise, considering his big, loud personality, but the extent he was going to for this duel felt especially over the top. Using the coliseum on the newly-unlocked Floor 75, selling tickets, making a production out of the whole thing…it felt wrong, somehow.

Adam paced his section of the coliseum’s underground, trying to work off some of his nervous energy before he was in front of a crowd. Normally, having Shiro and Keith nearby would be sufficiently soothing, but considering the situation, it was less so than it could be.

“Adam,” Shiro said softly, and Adam shook his head.

“I can’t just...sit,” he said, and Shiro sighed faintly, and stood up, and to Adam’s surprise, he felt arms wrap around his shoulders as Shiro nuzzled briefly at his cheek. 

“Hey, Sunshine,” Shiro said, gently, “it’s gonna be okay.”

“I want it to be,” Adam admitted, and he sagged backwards against Shiro a little. Keith moved over and put a hand on Adam’s shoulder.

“If you win, we get to run off together, and if you lose…being in the guild wouldn’t be so bad, right?” Keith asked.

“No, it wouldn’t,” Adam said, and he took a deep breath. This wouldn’t be like Moonlit Black Cat. It couldn’t. “Is there anything I should know?”

“Alfor has a unique skill,” Keith said, and Adam nodded.

“The Heavenly Blade,” he said. “I’ve seen it in boss battles. It gives him an offensive boost, but more importantly, it’s the strongest damage mitigation skill in the game.”

“No one’s ever seen his HP drop into the yellow before,” Shiro said, and he squeezed around Adam’s shoulders.

“First time for everything,” Adam said, lightly, though he wasn’t nearly as confident as he wanted to sound. In truth, he knew that this was going to be difficult. “Besides, it’s not like Alfor really gave me a choice. What was I supposed to do, just shrug and walk away?” He exhaled, quietly. “I’m tired of playing solo. Partying with you two…it’s the first time I’ve felt  _ good  _ in here in a long time. I don’t want to let that go just because Alfor’s worried that I’ll be taking you too far from the front lines.”

“Whatever happens, we’re here for you,” Shiro promised, and he squeezed Adam’s shoulders again.

“I know,” Adam said, and he felt a smile tug its way across his face almost without his permission. It was going to be okay, whatever happened. It  _ had  _ to be.

* * *

The roar of the crowd was almost enough on its own to kick Adam’s nervous energy into adrenaline. The coliseum was nearly packed to the gills, a testament to how many players were still alive and how many were interested in this exhibition.

“Well,” Alfor said, looking around, “I really should have, but I didn’t expect our duel to draw such a large crowd.” 

“The head of the Voltron Lions, the game’s developer, our hero and glorious leader, against one of the most infamous Beaters in Aincrad? Come on, you had to know people would want to watch,” Adam said. They looked their appropriate parts, too—Alfor in his polished white and red armor with his sword and massive shield, every inch the classic paladin, and Adam in black accented with sunrise reds and golds and pinks, dual blades strapped to his back, his longcoat and tight-fitting leathers calling to mind the archetypal rogue. Alfor laughed, good-naturedly.

“Not quite this many,” he said, and he glanced around. “Well. Once you’re a member of the Lions, we can call this your first mission, hmm? You’ve brought in quite the profit for the guild.” Alfor pulled up the duel menu and sent Adam the challenge.

“Happy to assist,” Adam said, tapping the “Accept” button. 

He and Alfor stepped apart, and Alfor drew his sword from behind his shield, as Adam pulled his blades out and gave them a brief warm-up twirl. The system counted down, and Adam took a deep, steadying breath.

When it  _ ding _ ed, to announce a  _ go,  _ Adam flung himself forward, blades crashing against Alfor’s shield. He was quicker on the defense than just about anyone Adam had ever seen, moving that heavy shield with sharp precision to block Adam’s blades, and then doing a good job at nearly turning Adam’s own momentum against him to open him up for a retaliatory strike. Adam dodged back, avoiding most of the damage, and then moved back in—and was stunned when Alfor’s shield slammed into his gut and Alfor turned it to send him flying.

“Fuck,” he gasped under his breath, landing in a brief crouch and then launching himself forward again. He focused, letting one of his sword skills catch and hoping that it might be enough, but Alfor caught the blade with his shield and sent Adam flying past him. It took a speedy redirection to keep on his feet.

“Your reaction time is fantastic,” Alfor said lightly. Adam couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride at the compliment.

“And your defense is impressive,” he said, because it felt right to return with another compliment. Still, no time to hesitate and bask. Adam flung himself forward, striking out with both swords in hard-hitting, rapid succession. He was taking return blows, but that was fine. It was all about watching and waiting for an opening, a crack in Alfor’s defense.

It finally came, for a moment—Adam’s sword slipped past Alfor’s shield and struck his face, leaving a red, pixelated damage mark across his cheek, and Alfor looked briefly stunned. 

He brought his shield around quickly, but Adam slammed into it with both blades, and then again, and again, and Alfor swung it out of the way.

There it was. An opening.

Adam launched forward, fully prepared to strike Alfor down and take the duel— 

Adam swore it was like time froze, for a fraction of a moment. In a movement too quick to be real, Alfor brought his shield back up and around, parried Adam’s blade away, and as Adam flew forward, Alfor’s sword came down on his back, sending him flying and knocking his health into the yellow.

He’d lost.

* * *

Adam sighed, staring at himself in the mirror. After his official instatement into the guild, he’d been granted a place in their barracks—which was nice, because he was starting to feel like he was intruding, sleeping on Shiro and Keith’s couch. He’d also been given new armor, befitting his place in the guild. 

“This feels so  _ wrong, _ ” he said, half to his reflection and half to Shiro and Keith. Seeing himself in the red-edged white of the Voltron Lions felt strange, after two years of being the Black Star Swordsman. “I had an  _ image.” _

“‘Walking Johnny Cash song’?” Keith asked, lightly. Adam spun to face him, putting his hands on his hips and, yes, definitely pouting a little.

“That is a  _ compliment, _ ” he said.

“I never said it wasn’t,” Keith teased. Adam sighed, and flopped back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“....I can’t believe I’m in a guild,” he said.

“I guess that’s kinda our fault, huh,” Shiro said, moving to sit next to him.

“I mean, in a way, this is probably a good thing,” Adam admitted. “I was starting to hit the limits of what I could do, solo, and being with a guild opens doors.”

“I feel a little less bad, then,” Shiro said, and he reached over, gently pushing Adam’s bangs away from his face. “Sunshine…I know this is kind of a personal question, and you’re welcome to not answer? But? Why do you avoid guilds? And…other people? You’re not half the cold-hearted jerk you let everyone think you are. You were willing to die to save a bunch of people you didn’t even know from a boss. So it’s not…that, obviously.”

Adam inhaled tightly, and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“It’s…a long story. And I don’t come out of it looking the best,” he said, and he stared down at the bed, hands gripping the sheets.

“It’s not gonna change how we think of you,” Keith said, and he moved to the bed too, on Adam’s other side.

“You say that,” Adam said. He let out a breath, and wrapped his arms around himself. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been in a guild. About a year ago, I joined a group called Moonlit Black Cat. There were six of us, all told. They were good players, but I was over double their level. I thought…if they knew, they would realize I was a beater, and they wouldn’t want me around, but I just.” He inhaled tightly, and his vision blurred, and it took him a moment and a few blinks to realize that it was because he was tearing up. “I didn’t want to be alone.”

“ _ Yukai no nikkō, _ ” Shiro said, and he reached out, but Adam flinched away from the hand on his shoulder. 

“One of the members, Sachi, he was…scared. Terrified that he was going to die in this awful game. I promised him I’d make sure he got back to the real world.” There was nothing Adam could do to stop the tears falling in earnest. “We ground for months to save up enough for a house, and Keita, our leader, went to go buy it for us. In the meantime, the rest of us decided to do some dungeon crawling. Make a little more money, buy some furniture, or something.” He reached up to wipe the tears away with the heel of his hand, but it was pathetically ineffective. “We found this hidden room that was empty except for a treasure chest. And of course Ducker, our thief, went running for it. He checked for traps, but…his skill was too low, and.” Adam inhaled tightly, and choked, briefly, on a sob. “The room blocked our teleportation crystals, and there was this absolute mass of monsters that came plowing in. They were all slaughtered, right in front of me. I was the only one nearly leveled enough for that room. The only one who made it out.” 

“ _ Adam, _ ” Keith said, voice soft and gentle.

“When Keita got back, I…I told him everything. And he looked me dead in the face, and he told me it was my fault, that a Beater like me had never belonged with them. And then…” Adam choked on another sob. “He went over the edge. And he was right. It  _ was  _ my fault. If I’d told them the truth, they would have listened when I tried to warn them away. Because, I mean, treasure chest in an empty room, that’s such an obvious…” He hiccuped. “I killed them. As sure as if I’d struck them down myself. They’re all dead because of me.”

Adam felt hands on the sides of his face, and didn’t resist when it was tilted up, making him look Keith in the eyes.

“We’re not going to die,” Keith said, firmly. “We’re going to protect  _ you.  _ Someone has to save you from all the stupid shit you run into,  _ sulchara. _ So it’ll be us. As many times as it takes.”

When Keith tugged him forward into an embrace, Adam went. He felt Shiro’s arms slide around his waist, and Shiro’s body press against his back, and for the first time in a long time, Adam let himself cry.

* * *

The gates of Grandzam, the glorious city on the 55th floor that housed the headquarters of the Voltron Lions, were absolutely massive. Everything about Grandzam had Adam in the mind of a feudal city, and as he strode through the gates to meet Godfree, the commander of Voltron’s front line, he felt smaller than he had in a long time. 

This whole exercise felt silly, he had to admit. Apparently, as a new member of Voltron’s front line, Adam was required to have Godfree evaluate his skills, and no matter what sort of protests were lodged (Keith’s insistence that it was terribly unfair to take Adam away from him and Shiro for a training exercise  _ on Keith’s birthday _ had made Adam laugh, at least) it was something he would have to tolerate. As if the display he’d given in the arena wasn’t enough.

He sighed, faintly, as he rounded the gate, and then immediately frowned when he saw who was standing with Godfree.

“You can’t be serious,” he said.

“I’m very serious,” Godfree replied. “I understand you and Curtis know each other already?” 

“Yeah, you could say that,” Adam said, tightly.

“I’m willing to let bygones be bygones if you are,” Curtis said, “since we’re part of the same guild now.”

“Sure,” Adam said, and then he exhaled. “Alright, let’s get this dungeon crawl going.”

“Before we go,” Godfree said, and he extended his hand, “I’m going to need you to hand over all your crystals. We’re testing your reaction to dangerous situations, which means no teleporting out unless things get way out of hand. Which they shouldn’t, since you cleared the Floor 74 boss solo.”

“I didn’t do it solo,” Adam grumbled, producing his crystals. “Shiro and Keith were both backing me, and so was James of Ares Wing, and the rest of his guild.”

“No need to be modest!” Godfree clapped his shoulder, solidly enough to make Adam stumble. “Alright! Let’s go clear a dungeon!”

* * *

Floor 55’s desert canyon dungeon was, in Adam’s opinion, one of the worst in Aincrad. It was hot, dry, and generally absolutely awful. Slogging through it the first time had been terrible; doing it again was, in his opinion, an exercise in making oneself miserable.

“Alright!” Godfree said, as they rounded a corner in the winding canyon, “this looks like a good place to take a break. Have some lunch.” He pulled out two sacks and tossed them to Adam and Curtis, and then pulled out one for himself. Adam opened his, and sighed. The single loaf of bread and bottle of water inside was what he’d have usually packed for himself as a solo player, but clearly spending so much time around Keith lately had him spoiled, because he was absolutely longing for one of those loving, home cooked meals.

Still, water was water, and he uncorked the bottle and took a swig. 

He glanced over at Curtis, expecting him to be doing the same, but he hadn’t even opened his bag, and he was very definitely watching Adam.

Adam felt a thrill of horror, and yanked the bottle away from his lips, tossing it, but it was too late. He felt his body going numb, and he collapsed backwards against the rocks he was using for a seat. He watched Godfree fall face-forward onto the ground, and a quick check of his status confirmed it: paralyzed.

Adam didn’t need to hear Curtis’s mocking laughter to know exactly who was responsible for this, but it was a nice confirmation.

“What the fuck,” Adam gasped, struggling to force himself bakc into a sitting position.

“You...Curtis, you packed the water...what did you  _ do,”  _ Godfree snarled, struggling to push himself up. 

“Antidote crystals,  _ now, _ ” Adam gasped, and Godfree fumbled to produce one from his inventory, but Curtis strode over and kicked it out of his hand.

“Oh, Godfree. You’re so stupid.” He laughed, and shook his head. “What do you  _ think  _ I did?” He reached over at his side and drew out his sword, and Adam struggled, but he was helpless to do anything except watch as Curtis slowly hacked away at Godfree’s HP. His player icon shifted from green to orange, marking Curtis out as someone who had assaulted another player. A criminal.

“Don’t...do this,” Godfree gasped. Curtis rolled his eyes.

“ _ Don’t do this, _ ” he mocked, and then he grinned. “I’m going to spin such a tragic story, too. We were walking along, when we were beset by a gang of Laughing Coffin player-killers. You two fought  _ so  _ hard, and I tried  _ desperately  _ to save you, but unfortunately…there were more of them than there were of us. I somehow, courageously, fought them off, and was able to escape.” He brought his sword down for a final strike, driving it through Godfree’s back, and Godfree made a horrible choking noise as the last of his HP drained and he vanished into pixels, like every dead player.

“You know,” Adam gasped, staring at the bright red player marker over Curtis’s head, “there’s a flaw…in your plan. Killing in self defense…doesn’t make you a red player.”

“Oh,  _ shut up, _ ” Curtis said, and he strode over to Adam. “You know, I just killed an innocent bystander because of you. How are you ever going to live with yourself?”

“ _ You  _ killed him,” Adam snarled, “ _ not me. _ And what’s a criminal like you doing with the Voltron Lions? You’d be more at home in Laughing Coffin.”

“Ah, you  _ are  _ as smart as they say.” Curtis pulled off one of his gauntlets and rolled up the sleeve of his armor, and there, plain as day, was the tattoo of a grinning face and skeletal arm over two coffin shapes that every Laughing Coffin member bore. “I was sent to infiltrate Voltron. To kill their leaders. But…” Curtis sighed, airily. “I laid eyes on Shiro, and I just…couldn’t. How could I take such a wonderful soul out of the world?”

“Oh.” Adam wrinkled his nose. “An obsessive stalker. Lovely.”

“Shut  _ up, _ ” Curtis snarled. He brought his sword around, and stabbed it into Adam’s arm. “I’m going to  _ enjoy  _ killing you, you piece of  _ garbage.”  _ He drew the sword out, and slammed it into Adam’s thigh. “You  _ whore,  _ trying to seduce Shiro away from the guild.”

“ _ Are you fucking shitting me,”  _ Adam gasped. “Have you ever actually had a conversation with Shiro? Genuine question. Because mostly, as far as I could tell, you followed him around as his alleged 'bodyguard', stalked him when he tried to have an actual life, and now you're trying to murder someone he cares about— _ namely, me _ —because you…what? Think I'm stealing him from you?  _ He's dating someone else, bovo _ !”

“Shut  _ up,  _ you don’t  _ understand— _ ” Curtis snarled.

“I understand perfectly well!” Adam snapped back. “I understand that you're a violent, entitled piece of shit, and there are a hundred other violent, entitled pieces of shit out there just like you, and I want you to know this: even if you kill me? Even if you somehow manage to pull this same shit and kill Keith?  _ Shiro is never going to want to be with someone like you. _ ”

“ _ Be quiet,”  _ Curtis pulled his sword out of Adam’s thigh and stabbed it into his chest, and Adam gasped.

In the fight against The Gleam Eyes, Adam hadn’t been watching his own HP. He’d been focused entirely on the monster, and on taking it down before it hurt anyone else. This time, though, he could see it happening, and he was utterly helpless to do anything about it.

Of all the ways he’d thought he might die, this was the worst.

_ ‘I’m sorry, Shiro,’  _ Adam thought, briefly,  _ ‘and Keith. I’m sorry I never had the courage to tell you both I love you.’ _

“ _ She-ma yisrael, eloheinu, adonai echad,”  _ he gasped, because if he was going to die, he was at least going to say his last prayer. 

“I told you to  _ be quiet,”  _ Curtis snarled.

“ _ Get away from him.”  _ The demand, from a familiar and welcome voice, was underscored by a shockwave of force that sent Curtis and his sword flying away from Adam. He felt gentle hands on his shoulder, pulling him into a sitting position and pressing a healing potion to his mouth. “I’ve got you, Sunshine,” Shiro said, and Adam sagged gratefully over against his chest. A red and white blur blew past him, and resolved into Keith, diving at Curtis with both blades drawn.

“Shiro,” Adam sighed, gratefully.

“Keith and I had a bad feeling,” he said, softly, “so we were tracking your progress on the map, and then you stopped moving, and Godfree disappeared, and...we came as fast as we could. I’m sorry we weren’t here sooner.”

“Got here just in time, by my count,” Adam said, and he nuzzled briefly and thoughtlessly at Shiro’s shoulder.

“S-Shiro! Keith!” Curtis gasped, bringing up his blade to block Keith’s strike, “I can explain, I swear—”

“Shut up,” Shiro snarled, and Keith unhesitatingly moved around Curtis’s sword, slashing his cheek open with a growl. Adam could barely follow the speed of Keith’s strikes as he cut Curtis down, especially half-conscious and leaning on Shiro for support. Finally, Curtis collapsed to his knees, and let his sword clatter to the ground.

“I’m sorry, I’ll leave, please don’t kill me,” he gasped. Keith stared down at him for a moment, and then turned.

“Takashi?” He asked. Shiro frowned.

“You gonna be okay if I go back Keith up?” he asked. Adam nodded, and Shiro let him go, but the paralysis poison had worn off enough that he could keep himself upright. Curtis clearly hadn’t noticed Shiro moving, though, because he reached for his sword, and Adam jolted. 

“Keith!” He yelled.

“The oldest trick in the book,” Curtis gasped, flinging himself upright and at Keith, sword drawn, “and you fell for it!”

Unfortunately for Curtis, Shiro was faster.

He interposed himself between Curtis and Keith, catching Curtis’s sword with a gauntlet and knocking it away, and then he brought his two-handed sword around and drove it through his chest.

_ “Keep your hands off the people I love,”  _ Shiro snarled. Curtis let out a pained, wet gasp, and shattered into pixels.

Shiro and Keith both turned, and for what had to be the third or fourth time in very recent memory, Adam found himself sandwiched between the two of them in a tight embrace. He softened, and slid his arms around both of them, inhaling tightly.

“Should’ve known you’d come,” he said. 

“I promised,” Keith murmured. “I always keep my promises.”

“I know,” Adam agreed. Shiro made a noise of acknowledgement, and then, very rapidly, there was a hand on Adam’s cheek and Shiro’s lips were crashing into his.

Adam was fairly certain the emotional 404 error he was experiencing  _ had  _ to be visible. Still, what else was he supposed to do but lean into it, and then, when Shiro let go and it was Keith’s lips on his, lean into that, too? 

“Starlight,” Adam breathed, “Moonbeam—” his smile was wobbly, and it felt right, somehow, to use the pet names Shiro and Keith used for each other. Especially considering howe they’d both taken to calling him  _ Sunshine.  _ Adam felt a little stupid for not realizing it sooner. 

“Stay with us, Sunshine,” Shiro said, voice soft. “Until this is over. We love you. Please.”

“Love you too,” Adam said, and he lifted his head enough to give them both a soft, warm smile. “I want to. Be with you. I just…I thought…you were so happy together, why…”

“Because we’ll be happier with you,” Keith murmured, nuzzling at Adam’s hair.

“Okay. I…” Adam smiled, faintly. “Can I stay with you? For the night?”

“For the night,” Shiro said, “for the rest of our time in Aincrad, for as long as you’ll have us for.”

“Forever, then,” Adam said. Keith made a contented noise against his hair.

“Forever sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra warning details: Adam explains his reluctance to join a guild; he'd joined one previously, but most of the members were killed in a dungeon excursion that went terribly wrong and the leader committed suicide by jumping off the edge of a level when Adam told him what happened. This was obviously an extremely traumatic event, especially since Adam blames himself for it because he was a much higher level than his guildmates.


	4. The Temperature of the Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yaaaay it's the porn scene~~

Bringing Adam home felt  _ right.  _ Shiro couldn’t explain it in any other way. In a way beyond it being familiar, because it really wasn’t; he’d had one dinner with them, and spent a few nights on their couch, but that wasn’t long enough to become  _ accustomed  _ to Adam’s presence. At least, Shiro didn’t think it was supposed to be.

Regardless of how this sort of thing was  _ supposed  _ to work, though, it felt like there was something absolutely correct about having Adam there with them. All through making and eating Keith’s birthday dinner and cake after, Adam moved around them easily, laughing and joking and smiling. He seemed surprised, every time he got tugged in for a quick kiss or was on the receiving end of an affectionate touch, but that wasn’t exactly a shock. Shiro got the impression that beyond the casual intimacy of a romantic relationship being new to him, Adam wasn’t used to much kindness or affection at all. Which was a tragedy, if you asked Shiro, because Adam deserved more gentle affection in his life.

“Sunshine,” Keith said, moving up behind him and dealing his arms around Adam’s shoulders, “ready to come to bed?”

“Uh,” Adam said, and he flushed, and Keith softened.

“If you’re not ready, we can just cuddle,” he said, and Shiro nodded.

“No, I—I really want to, just.” Adam reached up to muss his hair. “It…might not be the experience you’re expecting.”

“ _ The experience we’re expecting  _ is getting to be with you,” Shiro said, and he moved in front of Adam, leaning in to kiss him, long and slow. Adam sighed and leaned into it, and when the broke, he was smiling in a much more relaxed way. “There’s stuff you may have to walk us through, but we want  _ you. _ Exactly the way you are.”

“As long as you’re both sure?” He looked between them. Keith smiled faintly and pressed his lips to Adam’s cheek.

“We’re sure,” he said.

“Okay,” Adam said, and he softened, and turned to Keith, drawing him in for a gentle kiss. When they broke apart, Adam was grinning. “Since it’s Keith’s birthday, I think he should get to decide how we do this?”

“Aww, that’s sweet of you,” Keith said, and he kissed Adam’s cheek, and then gave both Adam and Shiro long, evaluating looks. “So, I have a proposition. Sunshine, you ride our Starlight while I fuck him. What do both of you think about that?”

“That sounds amazing,” Adam said, and Shiro nodded.

“I’d love that,” he said.

“Good,” Keith grinned, and slid off Adam’s shoulders. He turned to walk back to the bedroom, and beckoned for them to follow, pulling up his equipment and unequipping his clothes one by one as he walked. There was no sexy trail of clothing left behind him the way there would be in the real world, but Shiro was still of the opinion that it was quite the show.

He started to follow, pulling up his own equipment menu and removing his clothes, and then glanced over at Adam, who was staring, wide-eyed, after Keith. 

“You coming, Sunshine?” He teased.

“Uh,” Adam said, and Shiro reached out, gently grabbing his hand and tugging him forward while he unequipped the last few items of clothing he was wearing.

“Come on,” he said, “it’s a lot more fun when you’re actually there.” That made Adam laugh, and he trailed after Shiro. Keith was waiting for them on the bed, already nude, with his long braid undone. Adam inhaled audibly enough for Shiro to hear it, and Keith grinned, standing up and sauntering over to him.

“Aren’t you feeling a little overdressed, Sunshine?” He teased at Adam’s shirt, which made Adam swallow tightly. Keith reached up and undid Adam’s ponytail, sending his hair cascading loose, and then wound his fingers with Adam’s, drawing his hand up to approximately where his inventory screen would pop up. 

“Uh,” Adam said, and he flushed, but he pulled up his equipment list, and with a few taps, his clothes began to vanish.

“Leave the glasses on,” Shiro said, and Adam snorted.

“Can’t see for shit without them, which is something I’d like to be able to do, so that’s a given.” He finally hit the last button, and his boxers vanished, leaving him totally bare. Keith stepped back, which let both of them get a good look at Adam’s bare body. He was toned; not as built as Shiro, but broader than Keith, and by the nature of Aincrad, his body didn’t bear any of the scars of the battles they’d been through. There weren’t any marks from the real world, either; Shiro wondered what that meant for the kind of life Adam lived out there.

“What words do you want us to use? For your parts,” Shiro asked, gently.

“I usually prefer ‘cock’ and ‘cunt’? Most of the other words feel clumsy, or overly clinical, or more feminine than I’d like,” Adam explained. Shiro nodded. 

“Okay,” he said, and then he moved so he was in front of Adam and dropped to his knees, which made Adam make a tight gasping noise. “Can I suck your cock?” He asked, and Adam nodded mutely. Shiro put one hand on Adam’s hip to steady himself, and used his fingers to spread Adam’s folds before leaning in to draw his tongue over Adam’s cock. Adam gasped, and Shiro grinned. “Tell me if I do anything wrong?”

“I will,” Adam said, “but that was good, so…” He gave Shiro a slightly shaky smile, and Shiro nodded. He licked, again, and then shifted so that he could actually take it into his mouth, sucking gently. Adam moaned, and Shiro felt fingers twist in his hair, just shy of hard enough to really hurt. He carefully teased at Adam’s cunt with his fingers, circling the entrance first, enjoying the feeling of wetness collecting there as Adam got more and more aroused. 

“Fuck,” he heard Keith gasp, and Shiro felt a smug sense of satisfaction knowing that he was turning his other boyfriend on, too. Finally, he slid two fingers into Adam, pumping slowly, in time with flicks of his tongue against the head of his cock. He heard Adam’s moans grow increasingly desperate, and he pushed his fingers in deeper, with very little resistance. He could feel growing tension in Adam’s hip under his hand, and he was almost certain he knew what that meant.

“Fuck, Shiro—Starlight, I’m gonna—” Adam gasped.

“Come for us,” Keith said, and Adam made a desperate little gasping-moany noise, pushing on Shiro’s head like tugging him closer would accelerate the process. Shiro accelerated his rhythm, pumping his fingers and flicking his tongue faster, and finally, Adam came with a shout and a full body shudder. Shiro slid off his cock, but kept his fingers inside, idly curling them, which made Adam whine.

“Fuck, that... _ fuck, _ ” Adam gasped. He slowly let go of Shiro’s hair, and Shiro grinned up at him, slightly smugly. “You,” Adam pouted, but in a way that was clearly affectionate. Shiro leaned in and pressed a kiss to the tip of Adam’s cock, and then stood up, pulling his fingers out and almost idly licking them clean.

“You taste good,” he observed playfully. Adam flushed.

“Of all the things to simulate,” he said, and Shiro shrugged.

“I’m not complaining,” he said, and then he moved back towards the bed, beckoning for Adam to come with him. “I still want you to ride me while Keith fucks me,” he said.

“I still want to do that,” Adam agreed, and he moved closer, as Shiro laid down, stretched out comfortably on the bed. Adam straddled his hips and inhaled tightly, as Keith moved over to the bedside table and pulled out a bottle of lubricant. He moved to settle between Shiro’s legs as Adam slowly lowered himself onto Shiro’s cock, and when Adam sank down and settled against his hips with a moan, Keith slid a finger into Shiro, making him gasp and buck his hips, which in turn made Adam cry out. Keith began to slowly work Shiro open, and gave Adam a little nudge.

“Bounce, Sunshine,” he said, and Adam nodded, starting slowly, like he was unsure. Keith snaked a hand around, stroking Adam’s cock between two fingers, and pressed kisses over his shoulders and back, and as he increased the pace of his strokes on Adam’s cock and his fingers working Shiro open, it encouraged Adam to bounce faster on Shiro’s cock. The sight was arrestingly gorgeous; Adam, with his back arched and his head thrown forward, hands splayed out on Shiro’s stomach, and Keith pressed against him, peppering kisses over the expanse of his skin.

“I’m ready,” Shiro gasped, when it got too difficult to imagine waiting any longer to have Keith’s cock in him. Keith hummed playfully, and pulled his fingers out, taking a moment to slick up his cock before sliding into Shiro in one singular thrust. He moved his hands to grab Adam’s hips, stilling him briefly, and pressed a kiss to the junction between Adam’s neck and shoulder.

“Feels good, Starlight?” He asked.

“Feels great, Moonbeam,” Shiro breathed. It did. Keith filled him up so good, and it felt even better to have Adam squeezing hot and wet around his cock. “Fuck, you’re both so gorgeous,” Shiro gasped. Adam ducked his head and flushed, and Keith grinned.

“You are, too,” Keith said, and then he began to slowly roll his hips, fucking into Shiro, and moved Adam’s up and down in time with his thrusts. Shiro’s fingers fisted in the sheets, and he threw his head back and moaned. The dual stimulation felt amazing, better than Shiro could have imagined. Keith’s hands were still on Adam’s hips, so Shiro reached out, stroking and flicking Adam’s cock, which drew whines and moans from him.

“Fuck,  _ fuck, _ ” Adam gasped, and he began to move his hips faster, out of rhythm with Keith, which drove Shiro’s pleasure even higher. “So  _ good!” _

“You feel great, Sunshine,” Shiro purred, and Keith nodded against Adam’s neck. Keith shifted slightly, lifting Shiro’s legs up to rest on his thighs, and on his next thrust, he hit Shiro’s prostate, which made Shiro cry out with pleasure.

“I’m getting close,” Adam moaned, “again, I—I’m gonna—fff _ uuuccckkk _ ,” Shiro felt his hot cunt squeeze around Shiro’s cock, and it very nearly took him over the edge too. He grit his teeth and forced himself to hold off, looking up at Adam.

“Can I come inside you, Sunshine?” He asked, and he knew he had to sound on the edge of desperation because he  _ felt  _ on the edge of desperation. Keith’s thrusts kept driving against his prostate, and it was pushing Shiro closer and closer to climax. 

“Yes, yes, you can, fuck,  _ please, _ ” Adam nodded vigorously, picking up his pace, and Shiro moaned, fucking up to meet him.

“I’m close too,” Keith breathed against Adam’s neck, voice tight.

“Come for us,  _ Or hal’vanah, _ ” Adam purred, and Shiro could feel Keith tense full-body at the encouragement, and then he could feel Keith spilling inside him. That was enough to send Shiro over the edge, too, and he gave Adam’s cock a few jerks, hoping to bring him with them. By the sound Adam made and the way his cunt squeezed around Shiro’s cock like it was milking every bit of come out of him it could, Shiro was pretty sure he succeeded.

When he came down from the high of his orgasm, Shiro was only so surprised to watch Adam effectively tip forward and collapse on top of him, nuzzling at his chest. Shiro smiled faintly, pressing a kiss to Adam’s hair, as Keith pulled out of him and moved to cuddle up against his side. 

“Good,  _ yukai no nikkō? _ ” He asked. Adam nodded, and pressed a kiss to Shiro’s chest.

“Amazing,  _ Or kokhayvim,”  _ he sighed, contentedly. Keith made a soft noise of agreement. “Happy birthday, Kitten,” Adam teased, and Keith laughed softly.

“Best birthday I’ve had in a while,” he said.

“Love you,” Shiro murmured into Adam’s hair. “Both of you.” If it even needed to be said.

“Love you both, too,” Keith said.

“Mmm,  _ ani ohev o’t’hem,”  _ Adam said. “Since ‘ _ I love you both three’ _ would just be silly.” Shiro laughed.

They laid there like that for a long moment, the only change being Keith scooting back a little, so Adam could more properly slot himself in between them on the bed, and getting the blankets pulled up over them. 

“You know,” Adam said, sleepily, “on the 22nd floor, in the southwest, there’s this little village by a lake, surrounded by trees. We could get a place there. Get away from the front lines for a little while. Just…be together.”

“That sounds amazing, Sunshine,” Shiro said. 

“And Alfor owes us, after all the bullshit today,” Keith murmured. He pressed a kiss to the back of Adam’s shoulder. “We’ll go. Let other people fight for a little while. We deserve some peace.”

Shiro couldn’t help but agree. After everything they’d suffered—after almost losing Adam  _ twice  _ in such a short time—all he wanted was a little peace and quiet with the two men he loved. Getting home from Aincrad could wait. They had lives here, that were just as important as the ones waiting for them back home.

Shiro didn’t want to waste a second of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this fic!! I had a ton of fun writing it, and I'm so glad to get to share it with everyone <3 You can also come talk to me on twitter at [noirsongbird!](https://twitter.com/noirsongbird)
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